I'm running the Bristol half marathon on Sunday and need a confidence boosting reassurance that it's as flat as a flat thing! I've done most of my training around Bury which isn't pancake flat by any means.
The only trouble is, the single peice of information I can find suggests the height gain is about 1556ft, which is huge.
So has anyone done it and survived?
Is anyone doing it this year?
TIA
Matt
I'm doing it, think the highest point is at the end of the Portway which is a very gradual slope. There are no hills - you're not made to head up into Clifton or Ashton Court/Leigh Woods, so yeah it's pretty much flat.
Enjoy the run!
That's the kind of news I was looking for. 😆
Thanks
Matt
What Jolsa said - totally flat except for getting onto/off the Portway flyover (the spaghetti junction bit) and a short rise around the back of Castle Park.
Course map [url= http://www.bristolhalfmarathon.com/about/the-course ]here[/url]...
It's a pretty flat course - they changed the route some years ago when they used to make you run up a road up the side of the Avon Gorge at about the 12 mile mark which was horrendous and severely limited the number of people who signed up.
The main issue is likely to be the weather - you may face a headwind running along the Portway, and unless the weather we are having today improves it'll be wet!
Good luck!
I've been keeping an eye on the wind for Sunday, current forecast is around 15mph from the south which means you'll get a helping hand running up the slight incline of the Portway, but you've gotta come back.
Ran this section a couple of weekends ago and had a nasty headwind on the way back down. At least it'll be cool...
'As a witches tit'
Yeah, the run up the Portway is thankfully early in the race and is a gradual slope (but these are never fun either)...I've kept meaning to do it but thought, nah, **** it, I'll deal with it on race day. The run back down should be a slight pay-back though. Other than that, it's the just the bits around the flyover that are quite sharp (tbh, I didn't enjoy them in the 10k). But in all honesty, there are far hillier half-marathons around (says he like he's ever done one).
This is my first and I'm shitting myself....
The climb knocks about 1 or 2 mph max off your doped when riding it on the road at 20ish. Eg not hard at all.
Thanks for that.
I'm hoping that the wind doesn't blow too bad, but I'm making a decent go of the carbo-loading just to be on the safe side.
Anything under two hours and I'll be happy, then I've got six days to train for the Southern Sportive!
Matt
As a course marshall and event organiser i'll be making every effort to make them go up park street, and white ladies, then back through the village, along anchor road to the portway then up valley bridge road, down and across the suspension bridge, do a lap of ashton court into leigh woods and on the tow path, then a warm down up st michaels across then down Gloucester rd.
Yes i'm bored tonight
This will be my third year running the Brizzle half and i'll confirm tis gert flat.
The killer for me is the last 3 miles, as you can't tell where the end is.
You look to left there are people running one way, to your right they're t'other.
Oh and that bloody square with cobbles confuses thing aswel
If you don't know Bristol try and memorise the course (the end bit) it will help in letting you know when the pain will stop. 😉
Good luck!